A video game is marketed which is configured to simulate a baseball in such a manner that two game players operates their own game apparatuses to give instructions for action to characters of their own teams so as to allow the characters of the two teams to alternately play on offensive and defensive sides. This type of video game is configured to be progressed according to two game players' instructions for offensive and defensive actions of offensive-side and defensive-side characters, typically pitcher and batter characters display on a monitor.
However, an instruction for a pitch location of a pitcher side or a swing location (batting location) of a batter side is given in such a manner as to simply select one of a plurality of pre-set grids (subareas), and a processing of determining a batting result is executed according to a simple rule. For example, a strike zone is virtually indicated above a home base on an image screen while dividing the strike zone vertically and horizontally into nine subareas of 3 rows×3 columns, to allow each of the two game players to select either one of the subareas so as to designate a pitch or swing location. This game apparatus is designed to determine a batting result depending on whether respective subareas designated by the two players coincide with each other.
In the above game apparatus, a batting result is determined based on coincidence or non-coincidence between results of two players' selections on the nine divided subareas of the strike zone. For example, the batting result is processed as “hit” in response to coincidence between the selections, and processed as “whiff” or “out” in response to non-coincidence between the selections. Thus, each of the game players is required to predict opponent's designation and select a pitch or swing location based on the prediction. In this regard, a certain level of playability can be appreciated. However, the mode for location selection and the processing mode for determining a batting result based on two player's selection results do not reach a satisfactory level of playability expected by game players. Moreover, these modes are not sufficient in terms of excitement/enjoyment and unexpectedness, and thereby game players are likely to lose interest in the game.
In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to introduce a distinctive feature into each of a processing of designating offensive and defensive locations and a processing of determining a competition result in a competition-type role-playing game, so as to provide a game apparatus, a game system and a game progression control method which have a high level of playability.